2009 News
5 November 2009
The British Curry Awards 2009
Joanne Cash PPC Westminster North, The Rt Hon David Cameron Leader of the Opposition and Anne Main MP St. Albans and Chairman of Conservative Friends of Bangladesh
11 March 2009
On the 10 March Anne Main took part in an Opposition Day’s debate on Unemployment wherein she made the following comment:
“On training, I recently participated in a debate on the curry industry, which has vacancies for skilled chefs. So far, however, the proposal to set up a specialised training so that we can fill the vacancies in the curry industry, as some unemployed people would like to see better opportunities provided in the catering industry?”
4 March 2009
Anne Main: Government disappoints curry industry
In a debate on the British Curry industry earlier today, Anne Main, MP for St Albans, challenged the Further Education Minister over the lack of appropriate training to encourage young people into the industry.
Anne said:
“In St Albans we have many excellent of curry restaurants, and I know from my discussions with restaurateurs, including the award-winning Chad Rahman at Chez Mumtaj, that recruitment in the industry is a big problem and consequently there is a shortage of skilled kitchen staff in the industry.
The British curry industry contributes £3.2bn to the economy and employs 100,000 people, and yet recruitment problems mean many restaurants are struggling to survive. I have been working with those in the industry to try and get more young people to enter the curry industry, but support from the Government is desperately needed if this is going to happen.
The British Curry Industry tells me that they do not want to continue to try to fill skills training gaps by bringing in chefs from Bangladesh, yet they are unable to get any assistance from the Government in developing specialised catering qualifications such as an NVQ in curry and ethnic cuisine. At best, current training opportunities only give an NVQ in general catering. The industry wants a top-class training college established in London supported by the Government as a formally recognised further education establishment.
Leading lights in the industry such as Bajloor Rashid, president of the Bangladesh Catering Association, and Enam Ali, president of Spice Business Magazine, who attended the debate, are extremely concerned that young people are not encouraged to go into ethnic specialities within the catering industry and that there are no training opportunities or formal qualifications available. When there are vacancies within the industry and so many young people needing jobs and training this is totally unacceptable.
Sadly, the Minister’s response did not show any willingness to address the issues, and in talks afterwards he dismissed the curry industry’s pleas for help setting up a specialised catering college. I will continue to press this issue to ensure that the voice of the industry is heard.”
The transcript of the debate is available for download here:
Westminster Hall Debate - British Curry Industry, Wednesday 4th March 2009
Below, an irate Enam Ali of Spice Business Magazine expresses his frustration to Further Education Minister following the debate.
3 March 2009
New All-Party Parliamentary Group
Anne Main MP has been invited by Baroness Sandy Verma (Conservative) to join a new All-Party Parliamentary Group Baroness Verma has set up. As chairman of the new group Baroness Verma has invited Anne to serve as Deputy Chairman. The new APPG is for women Parliamentarians in UK, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka.
The objective of the group is primarily to foster a closer relationship between Great Britain and the South Asian region in areas of education, health and gender issues.
Baroness Verma stated: “Building closer relationships with women parliamentarians will I believe add a much needed wider, softer and inclusive perspective in areas of development which will add net value to policy development and hopefully greater participation from women at all levels in our societies.”
Baroness Verma was in Bangladesh during the recent elections as part of an All-Party Parliamentary Group Bangladesh delegation.
February 2009
On Monday 23 February David Cameron and Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, joined Joanne Cash PPC Westminster North and Cllr Mehfuz Ahmed at a meeting with police officers from Paddington Green Police Station to discuss crime and disorder in the local area.
The visit took place just hours before Chris Grayling gave his first major speech as Shadow Home Secretary at the Greater London Assembly, outlining measures to tackle youth crime and anti-social behaviour.
In his speech, Mr Grayling described how a Conservative Government would not only get to grips with the root causes of a broken society but would also be unashamedly tough whenever a crime is committed.
David Cameron and Chris Grayling took the time to visit Westminster North to demonstrate that life under a Conservative Government would be different – things are going to change.
The Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron, explained why his Party’s new measures are so important:
“Crime may not be in the headlines so much today but that doesn’t mean it’s gone away. Remember that it’s not just the National Debt that has doubled under Labour, but violent crime too.
Every since I was elected Conservative leader, I have tried to address this issue in a serious and substantive way. We have not gone for the cheap, superficial and simplistic soundbite politics of Labour.
If we win the next election, I want a loud and clear message to be heard by every kid who’s getting into trouble and every kid who’s thinking about it. It’s the Conservatives you’re dealing with now. You’re not going to get away with it anymore.”
